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Unmasked
"Unmasked" is the fifty-second and last episode of . It initially aired on December 18, 2001. Terry tells Max the story of how his secret identity was exposed, putting not just him, but the witness in danger. Plot Terry arrives late to a school fundraiser, and is ridiculed by his schoolmates and snubbed by Dana. Nelson jokes that it's okay, Batman will fill in for him. Alarmed, Terry confronts Max, who confesses that she made an offhand remark about how the school sees more of Batman than it does of Terry. Terry is furious, but Max doesn't see what the big deal is. In fact, she warns Terry that his relationship with Dana is on thin ice, and that it might be a good idea to let her in on the truth. Terry refuses point-blank, and tells a story to prove his point, from a time just after he became Batman: During a community picnic, a young boy, Miguel Diaz, is playing with his “Soldier Sam” action figures. His mother, thinking it would be healthier for him to learn to play with other children, tells him to put his toys away. Miguel obeys, but as soon as he is out of her sight, he breaks away and decides to climb a nearby art sculpture – “Soldier Sam to the tower!” In another part of town, agents of Kobra are breaking into a bank. Batman is lying in wait for them, and breaks up the robbery. As the Kobras flee, Batman pursues in the Batmobile. The Kobras' vehicle fires a missile that misses Batman but hits the art sculpture, which begins to burn and topple. Seeing Miguel on the roof, trapped by the flames, Batman abandons the chase and flies down to land in front of him. Miguel recoils in fright – in costume, Batman bears an unfortunate resemblance to Soldier Sam's nemesis. Batman tries to reach for him, but he runs away, falling and hanging onto the ledge of the roof. The building is about to collapse, and Terry, desperate, pulls up his mask to reveal his face, and show Miguel that he's just a normal guy. Miguel takes his hand, and the two fly to safety just before the building collapses. At Kobra headquarters, the cell leader wants to know how Batman knew about the robbery. He interrogates one of his men with a mind scanner that can produce visual images of a person's memories. The Kobra is revealed to have spoken with a depositor at the bank (his brother), over a cell phone. The leader orders him executed by dropping him into a snake pit. Then they all see the evening news, the lead item of which is Miguel being interviewed after the fire, and saying that Batman's just a regular guy – without his mask. Before long, the news is all over town. Bruce is furious. Terry tries to soothe him, insisting that his identity is safe, since Miguel doesn't know who he really is. Bruce says he's missed the point: by announcing that he's seen Batman's true face, Miguel has made himself a target for Batman's other enemies. At Bruce's insistence, Terry keeps a constant watch on Miguel, but pleads that he can't be stuck to that duty forever. Bruce relents and promises to call Barbara to arrange police protection. As soon as Terry hangs up, he sees a gang of Kobras try to abduct Miguel outside his mother's apartment. Terry intervenes and saves him. A police car arrives, and Terry gratefully hands Miguel over to them. They say he's being taken into protective custody. Terry tells Bruce that Miguel has been picked up, but Bruce tells him that Barabara was in a meeting and he couldn't get a hold of her. Terry curses, realizing his mistake. Searching the city desperately for Miguel, Terry realizes that the car was probably real, meaning stolen. Bruce does a search for the car's tracer, and locates Kobra's hideout. At the hideout, the leader places the mind-reader on Miguel's head, telling him to concentrate on the day of the fire, and especially on Batman's face after he pulled up his mask. Miguel is scared, so the leader calms him by placing his Soldier Sam figure in his hand. The image resolves itself, and the leader smiles. He orders his soldiers to drop Miguel in the snake pit, but just then Batman arrives and attacks. He subdues the soldiers and the leader, who laughs and tells him it's too late: he's already uploaded the image to every Kobra computer in the world, and it will only be a matter of time before they identify him. He hears the police pull up outside, and decides to take his own way out. Declaring, “I've done well. I'll be remembered,” he jumps into the snake pit. Terry looks at the screen and smiles: the face of Soldier Sam has been superimposed on his own. Finishing his story, Terry concludes that Miguel must not have gotten a good look at him to begin with, and instead just gave Batman his “hero's” face. Max asks how he can be sure, as Terry catches a stray soccer ball and tosses it back to the kid who's come to get it. Terry says, because the kid is Miguel, who's now learned to play with other children. Terry is confident that Miguel doesn't remember what Batman really looks like. However, as Terry and Max walk away, Miguel glances over his shoulder with a knowing smile on his face. Background information Home video releases * * Batman Beyond - The Complete Series (DVD) Production inconsistencies * According to Terry, the events of the story take place just after he started being Batman; however, the first time he heard of Kobra was in the second-season episode "Plague". Trivia * This episode was originally scheduled to air on Kids' WB but was pulled because of "production problems", according to Bruce Timm. It ended up premiering on Cartoon Network. * The idea of Batman's appearance being frightening to a child he was trying to save was previously used in the episode "Be A Clown". * The previous episode (and second-to-last in the series), "Countdown" premiered on April 7, 2001. The gap between the final two episodes of stretched over eight months. The long premiere delay for "Unmasked" coupled with the fact that it was not an official "series finale"-type episode is cited by Bruce Timm as a reason for why later DCAU series had big season finales. It was also why they later produced the episode "Epilogue", which featured a major revelation about the entire dynamic of the world. Though it was technically an episode of JLU, "Epilogue" is widely considered by fans and creators alike to be the "true" finale of Batman Beyond. Cast Footnotes Category:A to Z Category:Batman Beyond episodes